


In Theory

by Dichotomous_Dragon



Series: Prowess [5]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: A scholarly debate, Dorian being awesome, Gen, Mage Techno!babble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 08:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3643593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dichotomous_Dragon/pseuds/Dichotomous_Dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A certain Tevinter Altus and First Enchanter are having a spirited, scholarly dialogue about why the Fallow Mire is so disproportionately laden with spirits and other unpleasantness.  They disagree on the root cause.</p><p>Or, Dorian and Vivi are debating magical theory and her ladyship loses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Theory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [little_abyss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_abyss/gifts).



> Written for Little_Abyss, Rebellious Archivist and Beta Extraordinaire that she is, who gave me both the prompt and a great deal of sound advice on another fic I was working on. Also for being a generally wonderful person to chat with!

Trevelyan came upon them by accident, looking for a book...or Solas, or maybe Varric. To be honest, she'd rather forgotten what it was she'd been doing when the sound of high-class tones raised in debate came wafting to her down a stone corridor and she felt compelled to investigate.

"It's not...you're missing the point entirely, dear woman," Dorian's clear voice lamented. "It's not as though--"

"What could you hope to gain from trying to manipulate the curse plaguing the area?" Vivienne asked. Her arms were crossed over her chest, elegant plunging neckline obstructed. Dorian was leaning against the doorway, one leg tucked around the other. His face was alight with an inner fire, greyish eyes sparkling as they looked past the First Enchanter and off into strange, faraway places. Evelyn knew that look--Dorian had a theory--and she hanged back to watch around the corner. Such were the rare moments the mage left all of his pretense and posturing, all of his (admittedly impressive) intellect tightly focused on whatever managed to snare his curiosity. _What is and what could be_ , a memory of Cole's odd cadence reminded her and Trevelyan grinned. It was immensely entertaining to watch their 'vint theorize.

"Not a curse. The penchant for the undead in the Mire is not so much a 'curse' as it is a repeat convergence of arcane energy. I believe I can redirect that ambient energy in the area. Can you imagine? _So much potential._ The scale implications alone are staggering: an exponential increase in summoning ability with no aleatory influence required."

Vivienne was having none of it. "Curses do not always require their caster to remain living for them to remain active," she redoubled her efforts on her point. "Quite the contrary. I have seen spells last for more than an age in some of the ancient Elven ruins the Inquisitor has dragged us through, seeming as robust as the day they were laid down." 

"True, but a curse has to be _rooted_. There are no glyphs in the Mire, no physical anchor-"

"That _you_ saw."

"Did you see one?"

"The lack of empirical evidence does not necessarily suggest that there is no physical tie between the curse and the region." Dorian made an inelegant noise as the First Enchanter finished.

"...except that the size of the anchor one would need for a curse of that magnitude would absolutely be differentiable from other sources of ambient magic." The Tevinter's long, elegant hands flowed along with his words as his mind tore down the theory Vivienne had laid down. Not maliciously, Evelyn noted. Not a fight. The Enchanter's hypothesis just happened to be a casualty of the widening path of understanding Dorian was blazing at a run. "Between my talents, yours, and those of our two magical compatriots, _one_ of us would have noticed." The woman considered Dorian's point for a moment, features pensive. She glared at a particularly offensive bit of mortar as she pondered. Finally, she nodded.

"It is a fair point. Very well, let us assume that calling it is a curse may be inaccurate, for the sake of your hypothesis. A weakness in the Veil, most certainly, but are you suggesting..?"

"Indeed, the Veil is absolutely thin there--we saw that with the rifts behaving unusually. Evelyn had to _open one_ to seal it properly. Every other rift save the Breach has not been like that. The situation in the Mire seems...more definite. Less free-form than a simple vulnerability in the shroud between this world and the next." Vivienne's arms had dropped from their defensive posture and she was holding one elbow, intrigued despite herself.

"It was indeed more...pervasive than such manifestations I've witnessed in the past, true. The apostate did mention there had been old battles there."

"Also the plague...hmm. The _type_ of spirit drawn there is the giveaway, I believe. Typically, mages in my craft entice wisps of spirits to enable reanimation, small bits of energy from the Fade drawn across the Veil. Nothing as concrete as the spirits seeping into every rock and tree as they seem to be doing in the Mire..."

"Preposterous. We encountered corpses, my dear, but to suggest that simple spirits are possessing immobile, inanimate objects purposely is beyond--" two of Dorian's fingers cut her off when they snap so loud it echoes. His face lit up like it was Saturnalia, storm-grey eyes wide. 

"Ethereal entanglement." One corner of the mustache perked up as he said it. "The spirits are intervening...drawn in by the above-average confluence of energy, caught betwixt both places at once! It makes perfect sense, explains why spirits that would normally be twisted instead get put into a kind of stasis. It also explains the sensitivity to the presence of the living. I would be acrimonious as well, were I a wandering spirit trapped by the coalescence of bad history and rogue energy in the Fallow Mire. Oh!" This time he clapped his hands together, "The _Mellitus Moribus Compendium_ may outline how to reverse the compulsion to attack along submagical parallels," he bowed, quickly, and turned on a heel, "dearest Vivienne, if you'll excuse me?" The thought was too good to pass on; he needed his books and he needed them _now_.

Dorian hurried past the Inquisitor with naught but a nod as behind him, Vivienne's teeth closed with an audible _click_. Evelyn couldn't see her face but found herself wondering if Madam de Fer had intended rebuttal.

Having seen Dorian's face, she guessed not.

**Author's Note:**

> I am catching up on the prompt requests for Prowess, so if you have any requests for a specific talent (or Dorian just being awesome in some other way) please leave it below!!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
